


Better Angels

by doctormelody



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-23
Updated: 2015-04-23
Packaged: 2018-03-25 09:25:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3805222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctormelody/pseuds/doctormelody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the bloodbath at Whitmore, Stefan is determined to get the real Caroline back - by any means necessary. What might he lose in the process? Will his love for her bring her back? What kind of life might be waiting for her, if it does? Read to find out!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better Angels

You okay to do this, brother?”  
  
The question floated towards him from the driver’s side of the Camaro. Damon’s had the same harsh edge to it as always, but underneath it, Stefan thought he detected a note of concern. He shrugged almost imperceptibly.  
  
“What choice do I have?”  
  
Damon kept his eyes fixed on the road, but out of the corner of Stefan’s eye he caught a glimpse of that particular head-bobbing, eyebrows raised expression that on his brother indicated an uneasy agreement. “It’s not gonna be easy.”  
  
At this, Stefan couldn’t help himself. “Way to state the obvious.”  
  
“I mean, Liz died, then she went off the handle, then you went off the handle, then you guys slept together, then you got back on the wagon – ”  
  
“Way to mix your metaphors, there.”  
  
Damon scoffed. “Way to show off your English degree… and also miss the point entirely.”  
  
“I don’t have an English degree. I have a degree in Modern Literature and Culture.”  
  
“That is something only an English major would say.”  
  
“Hey now, you didn’t object when you visited me in that apartment near the Corner and you had your pick of sorority girls.”  
  
“Oh yeah, UVa... those were the days. Is it just me or was their breed of frat boy particularly annoying?”  
  
“It wasn’t just you. How much longer until we get to this B&B?”  
  
“I don’t know, look at my phone. Why were they so annoying? Was it because they all hero-worshipped old TJ? That guy was a dick.”  
  
“Damon, how many times do I need to remind you that you did not personally know Thomas Jefferson?”  
  
“Didn’t have to. I knew his grandson. He was a dick.”  
  
“Oh yeah, the one with his same name? Wait, didn’t I get in a fight with him at some point? I don’t remember what over. Uh, it says you have to turn in .5 miles, by the way.”  
  
“Yeah, you did. He was harassing some girl and you intervened, which meant that I turn had to intervene, because he had about five years and fifty pounds on you. I think you were twelve. Father was not pleased.”  
  
“Father was never pleased. Turn here.”  
  
Damon spun the wheel quickly so as not to miss the driveway, and there was a thump from the backseat. Stefan spun around, and the sight of Caroline’s prone form sprawled in the back somehow took him by surprise even though he knew that she had been there, unconscious, the whole time.  
  
“Careful man, she hit her head.”  
  
“Uh, dude, she’s a vampire,” Damon reminded him dismissively, cruising to a halt and shutting off the car. “Give her another shot of vervain while I check to make sure Elena’s done reinforcing the room.”  
  
“Yeah, should we really have left that to her?”  
  
Damon shrugged. “She says she compelled some handymen types to do it for her,” he explained, getting out of the car to go speak to his girlfriend, who was sitting on the stoop outside of the bed and breakfast.  
  
And so, for the first time since he’d switched his humanity on, Stefan was left alone with Caroline. The sight of her lying crumpled up and alone in the backseat was too much for him, so he put the top down and climbed back there with her, vervain syringe in hand. Once there, he repositioned her so that she was lying with her head on his lap, and swiftly injected the vervain into her neck, wincing slightly as he did so. It had been torture to watch Elena snap that same neck earlier, pretending to be on her side when they were really just tricking her –  
  
_You are on her side, though,_ his better angels pleaded with him. Of course, that was how he really felt, or he wouldn’t be doing this, at all, right? He had to admit, as worried as he was about the guilt Caroline would have to live with when she did her humanity back on, there was a part of – the most irrational, selfish part – that just wanted his best friend back, and to hell with the consequences.  
  
Except she wasn’t his best friend, anymore. She was something much more complicated than that. Stefan felt a surge of anger collide with tenderness inside him as he tucked a strand of loose hair behind Caroline’s ear. Suddenly, being so close to her was too much for him. He laid her head down on the leather seat as gently as he could and jumped up out of the car to pace restlessly back and forth on the driveway. Elena and Damon had gone inside, presumably to make some last minute preparations. Their scheme involved both him and Caroline being drained of blood, a plan he wasn’t thrilled about, but there seemed to be no other option.  
  
What was Caroline to him? It was a question that would not leave him be. A welcome benefit of him turning off his humanity was that he hadn’t had to worry about it anymore. In a sick way, it had been nice, to leave all that behind. To enjoy her company without worrying about what it meant or whether he would hurt her. Of course, his lack of emotions had meant that there was no reason for him to deny the attraction he felt for her any more, an attraction that, if he was being honest, had been there for a long time.  
  
When Damon had dismissed their relationship, Stefan felt an instinctive discomfort. His only experience of love was that of being drawn to someone like a magnet, like a physical pull, an ache in his veins that needed to be alleviated at all costs. His love for Elena, and Katherine, to a lesser extent, had been almost instinctual. There was no reason for it, at least initially, although he could have given many after the fact. His feelings for Caroline, on the other hand, had crept up on him. He still wasn’t sure he was ready to face them.  
  
Stefan was startled out of his reverie by the sound of a screen door banging. Damon beckoned from the doorway.  
  
“Everything’s ready for you lovebirds!”  
  
Stefan gave a wry smile, opened the car door, and lifted Caroline out of the backseat with ease. Her head lolled back, her golden mane swinging over his arm as he carried her into the house. In sleep, she looked deceptively peaceful, but he knew the battle was far from won.


End file.
